Global Procurement Category Manager - Raw Materials

About the role

An established international manufacturing group is looking for a Global Procurement Category Manager to own a strategically important raw materials portfolio worth about €100m in annual spend. The role suits a commercially driven Category Manager who understands supplier pricing, market dynamics and the economics of capital-intensive suppliers, and is open to different commodity backgrounds. It is based in Amsterdam.

Key responsibilities

• Create, develop and execute a multi-year global category strategy covering cost, supply security, supplier partnerships and innovation.
• Take full commercial ownership of the international spend portfolio and analyse commodity markets, pricing trends and supply/demand dynamics.
• Understand supplier business models, production economics, capacity constraints and external factors affecting pricing.
• Lead negotiations with major industrial suppliers and build strategic partnerships and contractual frameworks.
• Explore price risk management, index-linked contracts and hedging strategies.
• Work with manufacturing and technical stakeholders across 12 international production sites and drive supplier performance and supply resilience.
• Contribute to a procurement transformation programme, including a new AI-enabled Source-to-Pay platform.
• Support sustainability initiatives such as responsible sourcing, circularity and carbon reduction.

Required profile

• Experienced procurement professional who has managed significant commodity or raw material spend in complex industrial markets.
• Ideally from chemicals, metals, steel, polymers, petrochemicals or another commodity-driven manufacturing environment.
• Strong strategic sourcing and category management experience in international manufacturing.
• Proven ability to develop and run category strategies independently, and to negotiate complex commercial agreements.
• Fluent English; Dutch would be advantageous.
• Approximately 20% international travel.

Required skills

• Solid understanding of capital-intensive supplier business models, production economics and cost drivers.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to turn market intelligence into commercial decisions.
• Experience with commodity hedging, price risk management or index-linked pricing is a significant advantage but not essential.